Europe's Highest Court Finds Racial Discrimination in Czech Schools

In a momentous decision for Roma across Europe, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, by a vote of 13 to four, ruled on 14 November 2007 that segregating Romani students into special schools is a form of unlawful discrimination that violates fundamental human rights.

The ruling came in D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic, a case launched by the ERRC in which 18 Romani children sought legal redress for the practice—widespread in Central and Eastern Europe—of shunting Romani students into “special” schools for children with learning disabilities.